The Edge of Darkness
by Ven AeolusXI
Summary: When Terra and Roxas rebel against the Watchers, Roxas goes to take out their leader, Xemnas. At the climax of the conflict, Roxas becomes 'shattered' and loses his memory. To save the World and Roxas, Terra must travel to darkness and beyond.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. All characters and original story are owned by Square Enix, Disney, and so forth…**_

"_This is it. Its your choice… So, what are you going to do?"_

"_Whatever it takes..."_

"…_You've made your choice, it ends now."_

_The silence was shattered by the clang and clash of steel. And then, silence filled the air again._

This is the same dream I've been having for about a week now. Each night brings me closer and closer to the battle that reverberates through my skull. Who are they? Is it real? Of course not, its only a dream.

I pulled myself out of bed and placed my feet on the cold floor. The winter air filled the room as I opened the window.

_Its going to be a cold day. We need to get to Traverse Town soon._

"Wake up Ventus." I called softly to the sleeping boy on the couch. "Its time to go."

Still half asleep, he rose up and rubbed the gunk from his eyes. "What time is it?" he asked as he looked out the window, noticing it was still dark.

"About five thirty." I replied.

"Aww, Terra, why so early?" he complained.

"I couldn't sleep. It was the same dream again."

"Its becoming more and more vivid." I said. "I can almost feel the wind, smell the fear and sweat. Something is going to happen. Whatever it is, I don't think its going to be good."

As he staggered to his feet, I prepared the coffee so we could be on our way.

"What's the plan then? Where is it that we are going?" He asked me.

"We'll head for Traverse Town. Its not more than ten or fifteen miles north…"

I grabbed a cup from my bag and poured some coffee.

"…There we will meet up with some of my friends who will then accompany us."

Ven pondered my response. "Accompany us where?" he asked.

"You certainly ask a lot of questions." I replied.

"Its what you do when you don't remember anything. You still haven't told me where you found me or why I was there." Ven said.

He continued his questions, but everything seemed to be fading away. Noise became quiet and then stopped altogether. Time it self seemed to stop. It seemed as though I was standing in the middle of nothingness. Total blackness, and there _he _was. Just standing there with his back to me.

My head began to throb. I could here _his_ voice, speaking softly, but with an evil tone.

"_So what are you going to do?"_

I came to with a start, realizing how hot my coffee was as it spilled over the side of the cup.

"Are you alright? You just stopped and stood there like a mannequin." Ven crossed the room to me.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little thought." I lied.

He could see through my lie, but did not press the matter, nor did he continue his questioning. We left after I finished my cup of coffee and repacked the cup. Traverse Town was our goal. A nice small town full of friendly people and many places to stock up on supplies.

Ven and I were about 15 miles south of Traverse town in The Land of Dragons. We passed numerous rice patty fields and farms. The people here were rather friendly, and tended to keep to themselves. They paid little to no attention to travelers, because they preferred to stay out of any kind of trouble they might bring. But they gladly provided rooms for us and made no inquiries of our strange clothes or weapons.

We are both Keyblade wielders, though Ven fought with a backhand style. He knows how to fight, but I fear what would happen if we come across _them._

My Keyblade is a bronze-brown color. The tip of the blade has two hammer like protrusions. Both of which have two slightly hooked ends. Its not too long of a blade, but it packs a good punch. Ven has a Keyblade which is rather extravagant looking. The hand guard appears to be wings of a brilliant white color. The color is the same throughout the blade except for the tip, which has a red heart in between two wings. It has a decent reach and he seems to do fine with it, even with his strange back hand style.

As we reached the outer edge of the village, we could see two shadows standing in the road. One was slightly taller than the other. Both were wearing long black coats and appeared to be wearing hoods that covered their faces.

"Who are they?" Ven asked.

"Hopefully not who I think it is." I replied.

We got closer and closer and I could tell then that they were exactly who I feared they were. Watchers.

As we approached them, they removed their hoods. The taller one had long cherry blossom hair and appeared to be carrying a scythe. The other was a female who had two strands of blonde hair that stuck out like antennas on a bug, with the rest slicked back. She had no visible weapons.

We stopped about six or seven feet away from them.

"Hmmm, where are we strolling to this fine morning?" the man asked.

"What's it to you, Watcher? We've done nothing wrong here." Terra replied.

"Oh, Terra. Let's not play dumb, it's not your style." The man with pink hair said as he drug his hand through his hair. "Your better off handing him over now."

Ven shuddered at the sentence. "…._hand him over…" _What did I do?

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Terra said shakily.

"Oh, I see, you mean to say you haven't told him?" He said, his grin getting bigger. "Very interesting. Well boy, do you know who you are?" He asked as he slowly walked closer to Ven. "_What _you are?"

Ven was becoming frightened. What was going on? What wasn't Terra telling him? Who were these people, and what did they want with him? _Who am I? What am I? _

With all these questions racing in his head, he didn't realize Terra had jumped the man with pink hair and that the blonde woman was moving towards him.

He summoned his Keyblade and prepared for a fight.

"Hmph. You're out of your league kid," she said with a sadistic smile. "This is going to be fun."

Ven was waiting for her first attack, and then he felt a sudden shock in his back.

He collapsed on the ground unable to move. _"How? What just happened she was standing there…"_ at that moment he realized that she was no longer in front of him, but behind him.

"_She's so fast…" _He thought. _"I've got to focus!"_

Ven stood up shakily. He could feel the electricity run through his body.

"I told you, you're out of your league."

Ven gritted his teeth and lunged at her with a spiraling slash. She blocked his blade easily with a single knife. Bouncing back, he quickly lunged again with a quick jab that was, once again, easily deflected.

They danced about the road, trading blows back and forth. Ven was trying his hardest to keep up, and the mysterious blonde just laughed as if it were a game. They traded blows a final time and then separated.

Ven stood a couple feet away trying to catch his breath. He couldn't help but feel like she was toying with him. _What's she trying to do? _He looked over to see Terra holding his own fairly well against the unknown man, who seemed to be having trouble handling Terra's brute strength.

"Your fight is over here!" She yelled as she lunged forward.

She caught him off guard and brought her balled fist into his stomach.

The oxygen left his lungs and he could feel the electricity surge through his body. He collapsed on the ground in a heap.

"Hmph, you didn't last all that long. I don't see why he fears you…." She said quietly as she looked over to see Terra standing above the defeated man in the field.

"Not today, I guess."

She opened a portal and walked in.

"Hehe, you fight quite well, Terra. I wish you never left…we need more people like you." He grinned as blood trickled down his face.

"I left all of that behind. And now, your finished…" He raised his Keyblade high for the final swing.

Just then a portal opened behind Terra and the blonde woman stepped out.

"Watch your back." she said as she laid a hand on his spine and sent a surged of electricity through his body.

Terra's muscles began to spasm and his legs gave out.

"Not today, Terra. But you will see us again." The man said with a grin.

They turned and disappeared into the portal.

As Terra lay on the ground, he looked over at Ven who was still in a heap.

_How could he lose? What happened to his power?_

The pain began to fade away and everything grew dark. Sleep took him and he began to dream again. The same dream….

"…_So what are you going to do?"_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. All characters and original story are owned by Square Enix, Disney, and so forth…**_

Ch. 2

A large castle loomed in the darkness. The world around it seemed void of anything but shadows and despair. A pair of hooded people walked into the front doors and down a rather long white hallway to another large set of white double doors.

The taller of the two pushed the large doors open and they proceeded into what appeared to be a thrown room. There were ten tall thrones, all of which were white, like the rest of the interior of the castle. Of all ten thrones, only three were occupied.

There were four men. One, to the left of the middle throne, had long blue hair and hadan _X_ shaped scar between his eyes. The other sat to the right of the middle throne. He had his hair in a ponytail and also had a scar that went down the right side of his face. It was partially covered by the man's eye patch. A third man sat in the middle thrown witth one leg resting on his knee and his head resting on his hand. His voice was calm and collected as he spoke.

"Were you successful?" He asked, addressing the man with pink hair.

"No, I was a bit…pre-occupied with our former ally." He looked uneasy, as if the other man was going to attack. "Larxene was the one who handled him."

She looked as though she had just been thrown to the dogs. "But, I-" she started but was cut off by a wave of the man's hand. He could see the fear building in her eyes.

"Lexaues," He addressed a man not previously noticed by anyone, who was standing in the far corner of the room next to another set of large white double doors. "Take her to Naminè."

Larxene let out a shriek of despair and collapsed onto her knees. "No! Don't send me to _her_! I don't want her in my head!"

Lexaues calmly and without emotion walked over and grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her through the doors he was previously positioned by.

"Do not fail again, Marluxia," The man said with a tone so cold, it chilled Marluxia to the bone. "Or you will be next."

"Yes, Vanitas." He bowed and walked to a smaller door to the left side of the thrones.

"Its so hard to find good help these days…" Vanitas mumbled to himself.

The wind was cool and refreshing. I could feel it passing by so quickly. Was I moving?

I opened my eyes and looked as fields of green grass and tall oak trees passed by. The sun was setting behind the mountain and casting a beautiful orange glow across the land. I noticed that I was sitting in the sidecar of a motorcycle, and that my driver looked very familiar.

Blonde, spiky hair, not too tall, wearing a black sweatshirt with one sleeve that was draped down his left arm. He was holding a large sword upside down in his left hand. I closed my eyes again and let the wind pass through my hair and across my face.

_Ven…. _"Ven!" I burst out suddenly. "_Where was he! He wasn't here."_

"Cloud! Where's Ven?" I yelled.

He looked at me, confused "Ven? Were you travelling with someone? I only found you when I came by."

"_They took him. Dammit!" _ My fist clenched, I could feel the anger building inside. "_How could I let them? We need him…" _

We began to slow down and I realized we were in Traverse Town. It was a bustling little town with all kinds of cool shops to visit. People here were friendly and it's always easy to find what you're looking for.

We pulled up to a rather large door with a painting of a flame on it. Cloud raised a hand and chanted a word, "_Firaga"_. Flames swirled around his hand and a basketball sized fire ball exploded from it and hit the door.

The painting began to glow red and the door slid open. We got off the motorcycle and walked in.

"So how has everyone been?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Things have been hard. We've had to keep quiet and hide in the shadows. So far the Watchers haven't found us."

"We ran into them earlier this morning. Marluxia and Larxene; they got the best of us and escaped before I could finish them." I said bitterly.

"Who is Ven?" He asked. Looking again puzzled.

I paused and then said "It's Roxas."

"Roxas? How is that possible? We both saw the blast, there's no way he could've survived. Xemnas didn't even make it out!" He said.

"I know. But, it's him. He doesn't remember anything. He claims his name is Ven. And he has little fighting skill left. He should've been able to mop the floor with Larxene."

"So where is he? I thought you said the Watchers left?" He questioned me.

"I don't know. He was there when they left. Its possible they could've come back and picked him up."  
>We came to a vast lake. There was no trail leading around it. Just the one path we are on, and what looked to be a house in the middle of the lake.<p>

"What are we doing here? You don't expect us to swim do you?" I asked with a hint of complaint in my voice.

"You have to get to the island some how." He said with a grin.

"Just kidding, you just need to know the right words. _Aeroga_." With a wave of his hand, a trail of large, flat boulders began to rise out of the water leading right to the house.

"So, who all is here?"

"Everyone, except for Vincent. Cloud added with a shiver. "He's coming later. And Squall went out for awhile."

As we got to the door I could here people talking. There were familiar voices. Voices I haven't heard in a while. I reached down to open the door, but before I could it burst open and a fairly short girl with short black hair and a large shuriken strapped to her back appeared.

"Terra!" she squealed.

The night sky shined bright with stars. The black of the night almost, a deep purple, complemented the swirls of other galaxies nicely. As I lie upon the cool grass and watch the sky, I suddenly feel whole again. Nothing seems to matter, I feel as if there are no troubles in the world that could bring me down.

But the thoughts of what has happened today make it harder to just ignore. What was Terra hiding from him?

"_What does he know about me that he won't tell me?"_

"And who are these Watchers anyways?" I questioned myself aloud.

"Would you like to find out?" A calm voice asked from behind me. A strangely familiar voice.

I jumped up off the ground, doing a one eighty and summoning my Keyblade ready for a fight.

Standing in front of me was a person of my height wearing the same coat that those Watcher people.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

He said nothing, just looked right at me. It felt like he was staring into my soul.

_Our soul… _

"Our soul? Who are you!" I demanded again.

Still he stood there in silence. Ven, not ready to let himself be caught off guard, clenched his blade tightly.

"You must be one of the Watchers!" I snarled.

Without asking any more questions, I lunged at him, slashing for his torso. As I made contact, he seemed to vanish in a cloud of smoke. I hit the ground hard. Spinning about, I checked every direction expecting to see him charging me.

But he was gone. Silence again filled the air.

"Who was that?" I wondered aloud and returned my gaze to the stars above.

"Well, well, well. It looks like we lucked out, Larxene." The man with pink hair was standing behind me, along with the blonde woman, Larxene. She looked different. Terrified, her eyes were blank, as if she were dead. They were terrified and terrifying to look at.

_What happened to her?_

"….." Her mouth opened slightly as if to speak, but no words came out. She appeared to be in a different world.

"Ugh, I don't see why _he _wanted me to bring you. You are useless to me like this." The man said with sting in his words. "Just go back and I'll handle him. Terra isn't here to save him now."

_He knows Terra!_ "Who are you guys? And how do you know Terra?" I asked suddenly, surprising even myself.

Larxene turned slowly and waved a hand, with great difficulty. A dark portal opened and she shuffled through and disappeared.

"Hmph, might as well tell you. There's no telling what _he'll _do to you when I bring you. He truly fears you. I don't see why." He said with a grin. "We are the Watchers, a group that formed many years ago. We, with our _observer_, watch the world, both light and dark and prevent the two from crossing. My name is Marluxia. At one point, I was second in command."

"But those were our first intentions." He said looking to the ground. "Such a pitiful world."

"Through our watching, we realized that this world was disgusting." He said, his face grimacing.

"All of the hate, poverty, murder, theft, and crime worldwide is sickening. The more we watched, the more we began to hate it." He paused and then added, "Well, most of us anyways. Terra and his friends were still trying to _save _this world. Ha, what a joke."

"Xemnas, our leader, sought a way to bring the two worlds together. Merge light and dark, and create a utopia." He began to smile.

"His research led him to Kingdom Hearts. The Heart of All Worlds. Exactly what we needed. Pure, raw power, capable of setting the two worlds on a crash course." His smile faded to disgust. "And then you…" He raised a hand in my direction. "You destroyed him and our hopes of success."

"Me? How would I have done that? I didn't even know of any of you until today." I asked, my head spinning with confusion.

"You haven't figured it out? You were a Watcher, one of us. One of the most powerful of us, unfortunately. You got the better of Xemnas and destroyed him. The blast from his destruction should have destroyed you too. I still don't understand how you escaped."

"But, all was not lost as we thought. Vanitas, was created in the explosion. The power and raw evil that once inhabited Xemnas reformed into a new body. Everyone, no matter how evil has some light in them. It holds back the power of darkness, no matter how miniscule it is." He explained. "When that blast hit, it completely destroyed all of the light in Xemnas, and let the darkness flow free."

"He still retained Xemnas' dream of merging the worlds to create the Utopia. But his vile and cruel tendencies are sometimes too much for us to handle." He explained, "We try to do as he says, and stay out of his way. Failure is not an option, you saw Larxene. She is an example of what Naminè does to the mind if we fail. It's not permanent, but the effects are drastic."

He summoned his scythe in a flurry of cherry blossoms.

"So as you can see, I cannot let you get away this time." He raised his scythe in front of him.

"As lightless oblivion devours you, drown in the ever-blooming darkness!" Cherry blossoms began to swirl around him, and he lunged for me.


End file.
